Deadline September 8: Tell the USDA to reject Dow’s ‘Agent Orange’ crops!

On August 6 (2014), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), over the objections of 50 members of Congress, and more than 500,000 citizens, scientists, farmers and health professionals, moved one step closer to approving Dow’s new Enlist-brand soy and corn crops.

We have until September 8 to convince the USDA to reject Dow’s “Agent Orange” crops. Please sign the petition today!

Dow’s new GMO crops are engineered to withstand massive doses of Enlist Duo herbicide, concocted from a combination of 2,4-D (used to make Agent Orange) and glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup.

The USDA has admitted that approval of Dow’s new crops will cause the use of 2,4-D to skyrocket from 26 million pounds to 176 million pounds. Scientists predict worse.
Dow’s 2,4-D is already the seventh largest source of dioxins in the U.S. It’s been linked to a host of ills, including birth defects, infertility, allergies, Parkinson’s disease, endocrine disruption and cancer.

It’s unconscionable that the USDA would approve these crops. Yet the agency is is on the verge of doing just that. Unless we stop it.

Thanks for taking action!

Created on: August 21, 2014

Re: Docket No. APHIS-2013-0042-10218

I urge you to heed the warnings of scientists, doctors and environmentalists and reject Dow’s new 2,4-D-resistant corn and soy crops.

The USDA has admitted (http://www.aphis.usda.gov/brs/aphisdocs/24d_deis.pdf) that approval of Dow’s new crops will cause the use of 2,4-D to skyrocket from 26 million pounds to 176 million pounds. Scientists predict (http://www.enveurope.com/content/24/1/24) worse.

Dow’s 2,4-D is already the seventh largest (http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/files/fsr_24-d.pdf) source of dioxins (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs225/en/) in the U.S. It’s been linked to a host of ills, including birth defects, infertility, allergies, Parkinson’s disease, endocrine disruption and cancer.

The USDA has already heard from more than 500,000 concerned citizens, and 50 members of Congress, who oppose approval of these crops. The problem of GMO crops developing resistance to toxins like 2.4-D and glyphosate is no longer a distant warning. U.S. farmers are battling increasing numbers of “superweeds.” The escalation of the chemical wars is not working.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has released numerous reports calling for a halt to the escalation of the chemical wars and a return to sustainable, organic agriculture as the only real solution to world hunger.